Lawmakers' cranky summer continues

We'll see how many lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to keep working on transportation, as they've been called to do again by Gov. Rick Perry. There was a bit of an attendance problem last week, and perhaps it's just as well. Not everyone is playing nice.

"They've eaten up most of the summer, and from where they're all sitting, they can see the primaries. It just makes it harder with every day that passes for them to accomplish something," said James Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

"It's very hazardous for Republicans to be considering spending a lot of money over 10 years," Henson said, when a "big chunk" of GOP primary voters "said that their main priority going into the session was to keep shrinking government."

In the Senate, the race for lieutenant governor was evident in tart words between Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, one of his GOP primary challengers.

Patrick said conservatives caved in by not insisting on a constitutional guarantee that the rainy day fund maintain a certain balance for money to be diverted from it to transportation. Dewhurst called his wording untoward. Patrick said Dewhurst was out of order. Patrick bemoaned the legislative overtime, saying the session tab is just getting higher for taxpayers. Dewhurst called some of Patrick's comments "transparent."

There also was a ratcheting up of tension between Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Dewhurst volunteered to reporters that Straus told him he had mixed feelings about passing a transportation bill because if it failed, there would be more pressure to raise taxes in 2015. Dewhurst said that's not in the cards.

Straus spokesman Jason Embry said the speaker recalled their private conversations differently, tweaking Dewhurst by saying Straus understands he "has had a rough go of it lately."

Dewhurst in the first special session presided over a nationally noted mess of a Senate effort to pass tighter abortion restrictions - before getting the job done in the second. He since has faced questions because he decided against sending an agreed-upon transportation bill to Perry before Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, began the abortion filibuster in that first special session. Lawmakers haven't been able to replicate the transportation deal.

Dewhurst vs. Straus

"My only rough go has been having to deal with some of my friends in the press from time to time," Dewhurst said.

Dewhurst also chided House members when Straus expressed doubt that all 150 would show up for another session. That makes it even harder to get the 100 votes necessary for a constitutional amendment to divert money from the rainy day fund for transportation.

"These members have a responsibility to show up and do the work that they were elected for, or resign," said Dewhurst, speaking after a session in which several senators were absent and Patrick questioned whether others who were listed as voting actually were there.

His comment prompted one Capitol wag to tweet, "No more steak dinners," razzing Dewhurst for taking a break to visit a steakhouse during one of the Senate abortion debates.

It's not quite Shakespearean tragedy, but at this rate, lawmakers will be meeting until this inglorious, cranky summer turns into a discontented winter.

Peggy Fikac is Austin bureau chief and columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, delving into politics and policy in areas including the state budget, where the intersection of the two is compelling.

She covers Gov. Greg Abbott, who won the state’s top seat after a nationally noticed campaign against Wendy Davis; dug into Ted Cruz’s ascent to the U.S. Senate; covered George W. Bush as governor and during his races for president; and has bird-dogged Rick Perry’s tenure as Texas’ longest-serving governor, his White House ambitions and his indictment.

Peggy was bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle as well as the Express-News for more than five years when the two combined their Austin operations.

She previously worked for the Associated Press, where she covered the late Ann Richards during both of her campaigns for governor and specialized in public education and legislative coverage. Peggy also has been the correspondent for three Rio Grande Valley newspapers, starting as a senior at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.